Jerry Blevins wants his walkoff pie after dramatic save for A’s

With the craziness that was the ninth inning here tonight, there was no time for a proper Drumbeat, so here’s a sneak peek at the story for tomorrow’s paper….and Jerry Blevins’ longing to get walloped in the face with whipped cream:

Jerry Blevins’ first question when he got into the clubhouse on Tuesday was, “Where is my pie?”

Good question, because the A’s 6-5 victory over the Angels was about as close to a walkoff win as a team can get on the road, with Blevins playing the big hero in the dramatic final moments.

Blevins, a middle reliever who is usually in the background when it comes to the A’s success, turned in a magnificent performance in an near-impossible situation. After closer Grant Balfour gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Blevins took over with nobody out, the potential tying run at third and the potential winning run at first base.

He calmly struck out Kendrys Morales, then he got Howie Kendrick to bounce into a game-ending double play. It was Blevin’s first save of the season and the second of his career, and it was huge, given that the A’s are trying to stay in a wild-card spot and the Angels are trying work their way back into the race.

“So far in my career, that’s the biggest moment, the most exciting,” said Blevins, who has been with the A’s longer than any other player on the team’s active roster after first coming up in 2007. “I felt pure elation. That was one of the biggest screams I’ve given on a baseball field.”

The A’s are known for their last-second comeback wins, with a major-league leading 13 walkoff victories, and Tuesday night’s victory, manager Bob Melvin said, had “every bit” the same feel.

“Obviously you can’t have a walkoff on the road, but that’s the equivalent,” he said. “Nobody out, all the momentum on their side.”

But…no whipped-cream pie for Blevins while he was doing postgame TV, which is the tradition at home for walkoffs.

“I was half expecting it the whole time while I was doing TV,” Blevins said. “That was the perfect time for a pitcher to get a little love.”

Blevins’ only real option to get the save was to strike out Morales. Morales, a switch hitter, turned around to hit righty against the left-handed Blevins, but the Angels have few left-handed hitters and that was one reason Blevins was in, to turn Morales around. But Melvin had the infield playing back and the A’s were going to concede the tying run to get the out.

Balfour had been 10 for his first 10 save opportunities since returning to the closer role on Aug. 11, but with the A’s leading by three, he walked the first two batters in the ninth, then gave up RBI singles to Torii Hunter and Albert Pujols.

Balfour wasn’t crazy about the strike zone, but, he said, “At the end of the day, I’ve got to make better pitches to get out of that.”

Rookie Dan Straily also turned in a nice outing, but had such a rough first two innings,Melvin was impressed he made it as far as he did.

“I had a guy up in the bullpen in the second inning,” Melvin said. “For Dan to get through almost a full seven is quite the turnaround for a young kid.”

Straily, filling in in Brandon McCarthy’s rotation spot, was working on eight days’ rest and he said he was sort of rusty in the early going, but he snapped two after getting into his second jam in as many innings.

“I looked over my shoulder and I saw the bullpen going and I made sure I was not going to be embarrassed against these guys again,” said Straily, who gave up five runs against the Angels in August.

Straily allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, allowing a two-run homer by Vernon Wells and a solo homer to Hunter and he earned his second big-league win.

The A’s remain in the top wild-card spot in the American League, and they pushed the Angels 7 ½ games back in the AL West.

They are a season-high 21 games over .500 and the team has won 11 consecutive road games, matching the second-longest streak in Oakland history, done in April, 1981. The longest Oakland road winning streak was 12 games, from July 31-Aug. 15, 1971.

Yoenis Cespedes ended a 21-game homerless streak with a solo shot in the second and Brandon Moss hit his second homer in as many night, a two-run drive in the fourth. Coco Crisp had an RBI triple in the ninth and scored on an error by Hunter on the play.

Josh Reddick made a sensational sliding catch in foul territory on a pop-up by Pujols to end the second inning (“I was thinking, ‘Stay in play, stay in play,’ ” Straily said) and Stephen Drew made a wonderful diving stop on a sharp grounder by Alberto Callaspo in the eighth and threw to second for an inning-ending force.